Community Guidelines
Last updated: 7/7/2022
Table of Contents
Introduction
At Crowdcast, we believe in being respectful to all people. Anyone should be able to participate or share ideas regardless of background, identity, or location. We make a point to share our intentions and products with transparency to maintain our authenticity, and we expect our community to do the same.
We believe in fostering healthy relationships and will always put the protection and security of our creators and community first. Below are our Community Guidelines which we expect all of our users to follow. If you view a violation of these Community Guidelines, please report it here.
Our Enforcement Philosophy & Processes
As creators helping other creators, we have to be intentional when fostering space for sharing information and experiences. With intentionality comes accountability; accountability for our community looks like being proactive.
If a creator makes content or an account that violates our Community Guidelines, we will take swift action to protect our users and address the violation accordingly. Depending on the severity of a violation, we may take further action, such as suspending or banning the account. In the most extreme cases, we may also contact local law enforcement due to the severity of the violation.
Whenever we make an enforcement decision, we share the reason with the host or attendee violating our guidelines. Out of respect for the privacy of individuals, we do not disclose details of specific enforcements with the broader community. Should the host or attendee wish to share this information with their community, they are free to do so.
If you are unsure whether the content you want to create follows our Community Guidelines, ask us! By using the platform, you confirm that you accept these guidelines and that you agree to comply with them.
We have a zero-tolerance policy for hate speech and threats to individuals, groups, or animals.
Enforcement Process
We have a 3 stage process for enforcing our community guidelines at Crowdcast. The severity of the violation is broken down into either a warning, strike, or ban.
If you've received a warning: We’ve emailed you the specific content that violated our guidelines. Please read it carefully and reply with any questions. You will be given 1 warning before receiving a strike.
If you've received a strike: We have hidden your channel for two weeks and emailed you the specific content that violated our guidelines. We will provide you with three business days to appeal our decision and restore your channel. We will always hear you out if you decide to appeal.
If you've received a ban: We have either found evidence of content that grants an immediate ban or you have already received a strike. We have hidden your channel, canceled your account, and emailed you the specific content that violated our guidelines. You’ll have three business days to appeal our decision. Depending on the severity of the violation we may notify local law enforcement of illegal activities conducted.
Please note:
- Once you are banned, your content, account, and payment method will be erased and blocked from our platform. Refunds will depend on your membership and billing cycle status.
- We will not pause your subscription or refund any payments when an account is under investigation or hidden.
Submitting a Report
Crowdcast is host to a diverse community of creators. While you may not agree with, like, or feel comfortable with all of the content on Crowdcast, only content in violation of our Community Guidelines warrants a report or action. Context matters; deciding whom to suspend or remove is not always a straightforward task. Our Trust & Safety team aims to take a global review approach when disseminating information, tracking online streaming trends, and protecting our creators on behalf of our community.
Take the time to understand the severity of your actions before reporting another creator or creating harmful content. If you or someone you know has become a target of abuse on our platform, please submit a report immediately. If you are an attendee or a host and need to report an account or user, you can submit a report here.
A member of our Trust & Safety team will review the report within three business days. Once reviewed, a case manager will contact the host within three business days if we find content breaching our Community Guidelines. In most cases, they will receive either a warning or a strike before being banned but depending on the nature of the violation, they may be banned immediately.
No matter what happens, we always allow our hosts to appeal a decision by sending any relevant information they believe was not considered. Crowdcast believes in remaining open to listening.
Refund Process
Yearly Memberships: We will provide a prorated refund for banned hosts through their connected stripe account. You will receive a partial refund based on the proportion of the product used per month. For example, a prorated refund is half the annual fee if you've received a ban during your 6-month billing cycle.
Monthly Memberships: If a banned host were already near the end of their billing cycle, we would not refund their unused time. If they were at the beginning (2 weeks or less) of their billing cycle, we would provide a full refund through their connected stripe account.
Mature Content
We require that all public events shared on the discover page are appropriate for all audiences/ages. Channels that have any events that contain nudity and mature themes (examples below) must be marked explicitly as mature content on the registration page. Events tagged as mature content will not appear on our Discover page.
Don't hesitate to contact Crowdcast support if you want approval for creating Mature Content or have questions about whether your events are appropriate for all ages. If we come across an account that hosts events with mature content, we automatically tag the account without notifying the host.
How do we define mature content on Crowdcast?
- Nudity
- Sharing educational sex-positive content for informational purposes if you are a certified Sexual Health Educator
- Sharing pre-recorded firearm educational content with an emphasis on safety if you are a certified firearms instructor must pre-record all content displaying firearms handling or firing
- Note: This does not include firearms in video games
- Sharing educational and/or informative content depicting death, graphic violence, gratuitous gore, or serious physical injury in vivid detail
- Discussing criminal investigations
Nudity
What type of nudity content can and cannot be on Crowdcast:
- You can post nude content of both real and fictional subjects as long as there is no sexual intercourse facilitated.
- You can share educational sex-positive content for informational purposes if you are a certified Sexual Health Educator.
- You cannot post nudity in public areas, including your profile cover photo, promotional cover photo, trailer video, and other forward-facing media.
- You cannot share content involving minors.
- You cannot share intimate photos or videos of someone produced or distributed without their consent.
Pornography
We don't allow pornographic material or sexual services on Crowdcast. We define pornography as "real or fictional people engaging in sexual acts such as masturbation or sexual intercourse on camera."
Our payment system, Stripe, restricts payments for mature content. Meaning you cannot accept any payments through Crowdcast. If you want to receive tips, you can set up a call-to-action button on your event, which links to your payment site. Here's how to set up the call-to-action button. If you have a Patreon account and are running Patron-only events, your payments will come through Patreon, not Stripe.
Firearm Policy
What type of firearm content can and cannot be on Crowdcast:
- You cannot sell or advertise the sale of firearms, ammunition, or accessories (including giveaways)
- You cannot Instruct viewers on how to make firearms, ammunition, or any accessories
- You cannot share live footage which shows someone holding, handling, firing, or transporting a firearm
- You cannot post content displaying accessories that enable a firearm to simulate automatic fire
- You can share pre-recorded educational content with an emphasis on safety if you are a certified firearms instructor must pre-record all content displaying firearms handling or firing
Note: This does not include firearms in video games.
Discussing Criminal Investigations
When agency personnel or civilians are accessing, viewing, collecting, using, storing, retaining, and disseminating information obtained from social media sites, this can increase popularity and usefulness in the case and can lead to manipulation and misinformation if not backed up by credible sources.
We believe that conducting an actual criminal investigation should be left in the hands of law enforcement professionals, professional news broadcasters, and those directly involved in the case. We rely on the credibility of those lawfully bound. This policy does not include the production of a professional documentary.
Bullying & Harassment
Hate Speech
We have a zero-tolerance policy for hate speech. There can be a fine line between political comments and hate speech. If you come across what you believe to be hate speech on Crowdcast, please take the time to report it.
Violations of this policy include, but are not limited to:
Serious verbal attacks on people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, or severe medical conditions.
Threats
We define threats as statements that include wording like "I will," "I'm going to," or "I plan to," as well as conditional statements like "If you do X, I will" used to inflict or incite fear, pain or violence. We have a zero-tolerance policy for any threats on our platform toward an individual, group, or animal. Anyone should be able to express their opinion in a way that doesn't threaten others. If you are a victim of this type of behavior, we suggest you contact your local law enforcement in addition to reporting the behavior to us.
Violations of this policy include, but are not limited to:
- Cyberstalking
- Threatening to kill
- Threatening to assault someone sexually
- Threatening to seriously hurt someone and/or commit another violent act that could lead to someone's death or serious physical injury
- Asking for or offering a financial reward in exchange for inflicting violence on a specific person or group of people
Doxing
Doxing, short for "dropping dox," is when an individual's private information is shared to intimidate them through harassment and bullying.
Why is this important? Doxing can ruin lives and expose targeted individuals and their families to online and real-world harassment.
Releasing information about a private person online could be damaging to their reputation and those of their personal and/or professional associates.
In the US, doxing a government employee falls under federal conspiracy laws and is considered a federal offense.
The most common doxing situations tend to fall into these three categories:
- Releasing an individual's private, personally identifying information online
- Revealing previously unknown information of a private person online
- Intentionally revealing someone's personal information causing another person to fear for their safety
Spamming, Scamming, and Other Malicious Conduct
It's pretty obvious, annoying, and can be against the law. As creators, we understand that there's information you want to spread and share. It's important to practice mindfulness and respect when sharing information with others and ensuring we share accurate information.
Note: All event attendees must provide permission to be imported by a host into an event.
Violations of this policy include, but are not limited to:
- Repeatedly emailing users using the platform to send spam messages
- Spreading misinformation (such as feigning distress, posting misleading metadata, or intentional channel miscategorization)
- Harmful misinformation actors
- Defacing or attempting to deface website pages (such as uploading inappropriate or malicious content)
- Posting large amounts of repetitive, unwanted messages or user reports
- Distributing unauthorized advertisements
- Emailing users using the platform to spread spam or links to malware or phishing schemes
- Adding participants to email distribution lists or newsletters without their explicit consent
- Commenting on other people's events to promote yourself. Including posting unsolicited links to your channel, social media page, or website within a Crowdcast event
- Using incorrect titles or tags on your event to drive more search results
Harmful or Illegal Activities
Self-harm
No one should be afraid to speak openly about mental health or self-harm topics. We recognize that sharing personal stories and experiences can provide coping mechanisms and resources for addressing self-harm or suicidal thoughts. We support all creators who want to help facilitate discussions focused on research, advocacy, and self-harm or suicide prevention education.
However, please don't share content on Crowdcast if it fits any of the descriptions below:
- Promoting or glorifying suicide
- Providing instructions on how to self-harm or die by suicide
- Graphic images of self-harm posted to shock or disgust viewers
- Promoting or glorifying eating disorders
Graphic violence and gratuitous gore
You cannot promote or share content glorifying:
- Content that vividly depicts death, graphic violence, gratuitous gore, or serious physical injury
- Content stated as intentional or unintentional use of physical force or power against oneself, another person, or a group or community. Physical force or power resulting in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation
- Property crime (A crime to obtain money, property, or some other benefit that may involve force or the threat of force in cases like robbery or extortion.)
- Human trafficking
- Child sexual exploitation
- Products made from endangered or protected species
- Gambling
- Multi-level marketing businesses
- Stolen goods or weapons; including firearms, ammunition, and explosives, instructions on making weapons
- Live footage of firearms or weapons (see Firearm Policy for more info)
Copyright & Intellectual Property Infringement
Copyright & Intellectual Property Infringement is when somebody uses your intellectual property without your permission.
Trademark Infringement is the unauthorized use of a trademark or service mark on or in connection with goods and/or services in a manner that is likely to cause confusion, deception, or mistake about the source of the goods and/or services.
Crowdcast does not support posting, sharing, or sending any content that violates or infringes someone else's copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights. The use of copyrighted content of others without proper authorization or legally valid reason may lead to a violation of Crowdcast's policies, resulting in a warning, strike, or ban.
Learn more about our Copyright & Intellectual Property Infringement policy here.
Are you using live or copyrighted music in your events? Right now, we recommend that you do not play copyrighted content in a Crowdcast stream. Our long-term plan is to get licenses (e.g., BMI, ASCAP, SESAC) to broadcast live music. In the meantime, we invite musicians to share their music, but not copyrighted music of others.
FAQ's
What will result in an immediate warning?
- Spamming
- Copyright, intellectual property, and trademark infringement
- Discussing criminal investigations
- Nudity in public areas (profile cover photo, promotional cover photo, trailer video, and all other forward-facing media)
What will result in an immediate strike?
Promoting or sharing content that promotes or glorifies:
- Spamming (at the discretion of the case manager, depending on the severity and frequency)
- Doxing: Searching for and publishing private or identifying information about (a particular individual) on the internet, typically with malicious intent.
- Self-harm
- Providing instructions on how to self-harm or die by suicide
- Graphic images of self-harm posted to shock or disgust viewers
- Promoting or glorifying eating disorders
- Property crime: (A crime to obtain money, property, or other benefits that may involve force, or the threat of force, in cases like robbery or extortion)
- Products made from endangered or protected species
- Gambling
- Multi-level marketing businesses
- Live footage of firearms or weapons, unless educational (see Firearm Policy for more info).
- This policy does not include firearms in video games.
What will result in an immediate ban?
Promoting or sharing content that promotes or glorifies:
- Human trafficking
- Stalking or continuous harassment of a host, attendee, and/or Crowdcast staff member
- Hate Speech
- Mass shootings
- Pornography & Masturbation
- Child sexual exploitation
- Child abuse
- Promoting or glorifying suicide
- Stolen goods or weapons; including firearms, ammunition, and explosives, and instructions on making weapons
- Self-harm:
- Providing instructions on how to self-harm or die by suicide
- Graphic images of self-harm posted to shock or disgust viewers
- Promoting or glorifying eating disorders
- Violence
- Cyberstalking
- Threatening to kill
- Threatening to assault someone sexually
- Threatening to seriously hurt someone and/or commit another violent act that could lead to someone's death or serious physical injury
- Asking for or offering a financial reward in exchange for inflicting violence on a specific person or group of people
What may result in notifying local law enforcement?
If we find evidence of:
- Human trafficking
- Stalking or continuous harassment of a host, attendee, and/or Crowdcast staff member
- Child sexual exploitation
- Child abuse
- Promoting, glorifying, and/or attempting suicide
- Stolen goods or weapons; including firearms, ammunition, and explosives, and instructions on making weapons
- Violence
- Cyberstalking
- Threatening to kill
- Threatening to assault someone sexually
- Threatening to seriously hurt someone and/or commit another violent act that could lead to someone's death or serious physical injury
- Asking for or offering a financial reward in exchange for inflicting violence on a specific person or group of people